Distance to Fitness Zone, Use of Facilities and Physical Activity in Adults

Abstract

Introduction: The characteristics of the built environment are important predictors of physically active behavior. In this regard, the presence, availability, access to and quality of public open spaces for physical activity close to home are positively associated with their use and higher levels of physical activity in the population. Objective: To analyze the association between distance from home to outdoor fitness zones with the use of these facilities and physical activity in adults from Curitiba, Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted with 328 users of 20 outdoor fitness zones. Distance was calculated with the Geographic Information System (GIS) using the street network in ArcGIS 10.1 and classified in tertiles (≤854 meters; 855-1741 meters; ≥1742 meters). To assess the use of the facilities, three attributes were considered: weekly frequency (times/week), length of stay (minutes/day) and length of use (months). The leisure module of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) assessed physical activity, and travel to the destination was classified as "passive" or "active". The association was tested using Poisson regression in STATA 12.0. Results: An inverse association was found between the upper tertile of distance from home to the outdoor fitness zones and active commuting (PR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.51-0.97), and ≥31 min/day length of stay (PR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.31-0.76). Conclusion: Reducing distances and increasing the number of facilities may increase physical activity through active commuting and length of stay at outdoor fitness zones.

Outdoor Recreation Participation in Istanbul, Turkey: An Investigation of Frequency, Length, Travel Time and Activities

“…The travel time was shortest for the respondents visiting the area most frequently and longest for those visiting the area least frequently. Existing research to date has predominantly focused on the role of park proximity for frequent park use, with findings supporting the importance of distance: the closer the distance the more frequent the recreational area visits occur [12,32,[41][42][43][44]70]. This line of research asserts that distance predicts the frequency of visits.…”

“…However, as the distance to the site increases, the demand/desire that residents have for it decreases [39,40]. Existing research provides evidence that residential proximity to the recreational area is the strongest, if not the sole, predictor of visit frequency, with people living closer to the area making more frequent visits [12,32,[41][42][43][44].…”

A systematic review about the characteristics and patterns of use of outdoor gyms

“…Attending to Mora (2012) and Mora et al (2017) study, in some cases, a 64% of the households found an OG within 500m. Silva, Fermino, Santos Lopes, Alberico & Reis (2018) found that mean distance from home to fitness zone was 2,007 meters. Most researches compare more than two OG parks to better understand the element to study (Table 5).…”

“…According to Table 12, it can be seen that daily exercise recommendations are not always achieved. Regarding customer' long-term loyalty, some studies show a long period of OGs use over one year in Iepsen & Silva (2015) until 42,4% of users (Chow, 2013;Ibiapina et al,2017;Iepsen & Silva, 2015;Pinheiro & Coelho Filho, 2017;Silva, et al (2016Silva, et al ( ,2018Silva, et al ( ,2017Souza et al, 2014). Family income and time spent in the places (months) were positively associated with neighbourhood income (Souza et al, 2014).…”

O Sistema de Informação Geográfica em pesquisas sobre ambiente, atividade física e saúde

“…Apesar de frequentemente atualizados e de fácil localização, esses dados não foram obtidos especificamente com a finalidade de serem utilizados em estudos sobre atividade física e saúde. Isso implica a necessidade de filtrar as informações contidas nestes arquivos ou ainda incrementar com dados secundários 24 , como feito por Silva et al 25 que combinaram informações do uso das academias ao ar livre e prática de atividade física de adultos de Curitiba, Paraná com a distância até as estruturas. De fato, uma maior disponibilização ou cooperações técnicas possibilitaria maior acesso e compartilhamento de dados espaciais entre órgãos, instituições, institutos e universidades para agregar recursos as investigações.…”